Kindred Spirits
by Tailkinker
This is a work of fan fiction based on the Harry Potter series and the Sailor Moon franchise created respectively by J.K. Rowling and Naoko Takeuchi. The characters and settings belong to their respective owners and no copyright infringement is intended. This story is written purely for entertainment purposes and should not be considered as part of the official canon of either series.
The First Task
The noise of the crowd faded somewhat as Harry and Hotaru entered the tent. But Harry suspected that once the crowd got really worked up, he'd be able to hear them just fine.
Within the tent—a magically enlarged space, much like the Weasley's tent at the World Cup—were the other four Champions. Fleur Delacour sniffed and looked away from him; Victor Krum didn't even look up at him in the first place. Ami and Cedric, on the other hand, got up and walked towards them.
Ami had a warm smile on her face. "Hello, Harry. Hotaru. I'm hoping you do well out there today."
"Thanks." Harry felt a bit uncomfortable; he'd never filled Ami in on what they'd be facing.
Cedric grinned tightly, his nervousness showing through his pleasant demeanour. "Got your plan all worked out, Harry?"
"I think so," he said. "Of course, no plan survives contact with the enemy."
Cedric looked confused, but Ami smiled. "You've studied Von Moltke?"
"Err...who?"
Ami looked a bit crestfallen at that. Harry grinned, and said to Hotaru, "She remind you of anyone?"
"She is quite Hermione-esque, isn't she?" Hotaru looked back at Ami. "I'm guessing that your first course of action, when presented with a new problem, is to go to the library?"
"Of course. Who wouldn't?" Ami looked a bit confused as Cedric, Harry and Hotaru all snickered.
"Remind me to introduce you to Hermione, after this is done," said Harry.
Ludo Bagman entered the tent behind him. "All right, everybody!" He paused, and glanced at Hotaru. "I'm afraid that this tent is for the Champions only. One kiss for luck, and then I'm afraid that you'll have to leave."
Hotaru took him at his word, giving Harry a quick kiss on the cheek. "For luck!" She grinned as he blushed, then ducked out of the tent.
"Gather round, my friends." He held out a leather sack. "In this bag are miniatures of the threat you'll be facing today. Each is to draw one, which will determine their order—there are different varieties, you see." He offered the bag to Fleur. "Ladies first."
Fleur reached a trembling hand into the bag, and withdrew a scarlet dragon. It was carved from stone, and animated to move realistically. He heard Ami gasp, and realized that she hadn't learned from anyone else, either, what they would be facing. Around the dragon's neck was the number two.
"The Chinese Fireball. Very nice." He moved on to Ami, who withdrew a black, thorny-looking dragon. "The Hungarian Horntail, and the final position."
Ami was staring at the fierce-looking statuette, her eyes wide. She took a step back, almost stumbling over the hem of her robe.
Cedric stepped up next, projecting an air of confidence that his trembling hand belied. He withdrew a greenish dragon, adorned with the number three. "The Swedish Short-Snout." He offered the bag to Victor, who withdrew a second green dragon. "The Peruvian Vipertooth, and the pole position. And that leaves one for Mr Potter."
Harry knew which one it was. He reached into the bag and withdrew the sinuous form. "Norwegian Ridgeback," he said.
Bagman frowned slightly at him. "How did you know?"
"I've seen this type before, Sir," said Harry. "One of my best mates—well, he was, anyway—his brother works at a dragon preserve."
"Ah. Well, that explains it." Ludo chuckled. "So this might be old hat to you."
"So..." Ami was fidgeting with her obi. "Do we have to...kill them?"
"Oh, no," said Ludo. "Nothing that dangerous. You just need to get past them, and steal the golden egg from their nest."
From the look on her face, Harry now believed that Ami was quite capable of murder.
They sat in silence, waiting to be called. As the first to leave, Krum didn't even sit down, but merely stood, his posture slumped, near the tent's entrance. Fleur sat and wrung her hands, and Cedric paced. Ami whispered in Japanese to herself; Harry could catch snatches of words, which appeared to be Japanese spell incantations. From the number of times she used the word 'transformation', Harry decided that she was likely considering Transfiguration. Perhaps they referred to it differently in Japanese schools?
Victor was the first called, as expected. Harry heard him shout an incantation—he couldn't recognize it, due to the muffling effect of the tent—and heard the dragon roar in pain. It sounded like he'd gone for a very direct solution. Fleur was up second; he didn't hear anything from her effect, until Bagman screamed, "And she's done it!"
Cedric was third, and Harry strained his ears to hear what he tried. But though he could hear Bagman say things like, "Oh, that's clever!" and "Nearly had him there!", he really couldn't catch what the older boy was trying. But from the way the crowd went wild, it seemed that he'd done well.
And then it was his turn. Blinking as he stepped into the sun, he saw the Norwegian Ridgeback in the arena. For half an instant, he wondered if it was Norbert, but then kicked himself mentally. It's a nesting female; Norbert is too young, and too male, to fit that description.
He tuned out the crowd, which was split between cheering and booing, and tuned out Ludo Bagman's inane commentary as well. He concentrated on the dragon, in its nest of solid rock. Boulders both large and small dotted the arena, and there was a large pile of rubble near the left wall. He slowly drew his wand, and tapped it on his head.
He'd practiced the charm, which required a specific intent and state of mind, but he'd never quite gotten over the feeling of ice water running down his head. He glanced down at his hand, and saw that it had turned transparent. Disillusionment was not true invisibility, but it was close, and hopefully—given that dragons relied more on scent than on vision—it would be enough.
Next came the Scent Veil Charm. He ran the wand down his chest, and whispered, "Olfactus Abscondere." There was no way to test this charm; he'd have to pray that he got it right.
Finally, he whispered, "Vox Illusoria!" The Ventriloquism Charm would cause any noise he made to come from an alternate location—in this case, the pile of rubble off to his left.
He began to approach the dragon, moving as silently as he could. His oft-repaired trainers at least produced little noise, despite the loose gravel underfoot. But it seemed to be working; the dragon ignored him, and concentrated on the area to his left. He could see it sniffing, attempting to catch his odour, and since it didn't immediately roast him, he assumed he'd gotten it right.
But the dragon was still curled around its eggs. Harry knew he'd have to get it to move in order to get at the golden egg. This was the most dangerous part of the plan. In Parseltongue, he hissed, "Fresh dragon eggs for a snack!"
And the dragon went berserk. It roared, unleashed flame towards the pile of rubble, then stood and attempted to fly over. The chain around its neck prevented it from taking to the air, and it crashed back down to earth. Harry darted forward, and tapped the golden egg, cloaking it in disillusionment as well. He gingerly picked it up, then glanced back at the dragon...and was horrified to realize that it was looking straight at him.
He dodged to the side, just as the dragon's massive claws struck the earth where he'd been standing, raising a small cloud of dust. He quickly tried to cast his disillusionment charm again, but it didn't take; he lacked the focus to cast the spell, and with good reason.
But the Ventriloquism Charm was still up; he hissed again in Parseltongue, and ducked behind a boulder as the massive reptile looked again at the rubble. But it didn't leave; it was now splitting its attention between the rubble and Harry's rock.
He heard the dragon take a deep breath, and suddenly was surrounded by fire. The dragon's flame was splashing around his shelter, leaving him overheated but not singed.
He jabbed his wand at the far wall, opposite the dragon's nest, near where he'd entered the arena, and re-cast the Ventriloquism charm. He couldn't see the dragon, but could hear footfalls as it approached his boulder; he'd not have his shelter for long. His heart hammering against his ribs, he spoke again in Parseltongue: "Foolish lizard, I've already left."
He doubted that it understood him; it was the sound of the language that drove dragons into a state of rage, not the contents of the words. But it split the dragon's attention, and it moved away from the boulder, trying to cover two snake dens that existed only in its mind.
Harry forced himself to calm down, and cast the Disillusionment Charm again. This time it took, but the egg reappeared; it seemed he couldn't hold it on two targets simultaneously. But he was a lot larger than the egg. He got up and ran for the exit. The dragon, hearing his footfalls originating from the entrance, lunged in the wrong direction, and Harry was through the exit with his egg.
"And he's through, ladies and gentlemen!" Bagman sounded quite relieved. "And once he drops his Disillusionment Charm—very high level magic for only a fourth-year, I'd say—we'll have him checked out by the healer, and award him his points!"
He realized that he was gasping huge lungfuls of air, and that his hands and knees were trembling badly. He also realized, now that he was paying any attention to them, that the crowd was cheering him, seemingly without reservation. He sat down in the dust, allowing the Disillusionment Charm to fade, and remained seated as Madam Pomfrey cast a variety of diagnostic spells on him.
"Bloody dragons, what were they thinking?" Pomfrey sniffed. "Well, I feel very oddly saying this, Mr Potter, but you appear to be unharmed."
"That is a first," he said with a shaky grin.
"I was so nervous I was afraid I'd throw up," admitted Hotaru.
"You weren't the only one," said Harry.
The two were seated in a box that they shared with the other three Champions. Fleur leaned over and said, "You appeared quite composed, Monsieur Potter. I certainly couldn't see any fear."
"That's just Harry," said Hotaru. "The world could be exploding around him, and he'd just invite it to do its worst." She grinned at him. "I wish I'd seen you kill that Basilisk."
"Mon Dieu! Un basilic? C'est incroyable!"
Hotaru giggled at Fleur's thunderstruck expression.
"There's Ami," said Harry.
"I thought you were going to warn her?" said Cedric quietly. "She seemed to be the only one surprised."
"I..." Harry sighed. "I heard something that...kinda drove it from my mind. It was a really big deal. Let's leave it at that."
Cedric looked at him oddly, but said, "Fair enough."
Ami appeared as confident as Harry had felt facing the Ridgeback—that is, not at all. But she stepped forward, and raised her wand.
And the entire arena was flooded with mist.
"This mist will certainly conceal her from the dragon," Ludo Bagman was saying, "but it will blind her every bit as much."
"No, it won't." Hotaru shook her head. "She can see right through it. She's moving around to the left."
"You can see through it?" asked Harry.
"I can," confirmed Hotaru. "And from the way she's moving, it's obvious that she can, as well. She just fired something at the dragon—it splashed when it it. I think she's firing balls of water."
"A dragon won't care for that," guessed Harry.
"Apparently not." Hotaru sucked in a breath. "It's going to flame—"
And indeed, it did, burning off half the mist. He heard Fleur gasp, felt Cedric shifting behind him. Ami was briefly visible as she dodged back into what remained of the mist. The dragon lumbered in her direction, leaving its nest. Then it was concealed again, this time in what looked like whirling snow.
When the snow settled, the dragon was once again visible, but encased in ice.
"Magnifique!" cheered Fleur.
Ami walked forward, calmly picked up the golden egg, then turned and bowed to the dragon. Then quickly turned and ran towards the exit. Harry could see cracks forming in the sheathe of ice, but the dragon couldn't get free before Ami was through the exit.
"Damn," he breathed. "That was...actually pretty awesome."
"Girl likes her water magic," grunted Victor. "Why she bow to dragon?"
"The Japanese hold dragons as sacred," explained Hotaru. "She showed her respect to a blessed guardian and a worthy foe." She smiled a bit. "Sometimes, I wish I'd grown up in Japan, instead of England." She grinned at Harry. "But most of the time, I'm quite happy to be here."